Chapter 17

Part of it was simply because he loved games and was a game developer, but while creating Land of Adventure this time, he had keenly felt the limitations of the hardware. That made him curious whether dedicated gaming hardware might be fundamentally different somehow.

“I’m heading out for a bit. Ms. Pana, stay and watch the office for now, and around three o’clock just lock up and head home.”

“Yes.”

“You can play games if you want.”

Although it had already been a month since the release of the game, development on Land of Adventure had been so exhausting that the atmosphere at the office was still practically vacation mode.

Of course, Pana had not simply been trapped at the office with nothing to do either. Ras had already given her two full weeks of vacation.

Stepping out onto the street, Ras headed toward the electronics store while briefly glancing around at the busy crowds passing by.

Back then, unfamiliar people had frightened him, and the thought of adapting and surviving in this world had filled him with anxiety.

But now, none of those feelings remained.

At most, he only felt a faint curiosity.

Which made him realize that those emotions had never really come from the people around him. They had originated from his own heart.

It was the kind of idle thought that surfaced from a mind finally relaxed by success.

“Welcome. Ah! It’s been a while.”

The Dwarf shop owner recognized him a beat late.

Things had started unpleasantly between them in the past, but in the end Ras had still bought three computers from this store, and it remained the place in the area that stocked computer-related products most enthusiastically. That was why he had returned again today.

“Yes. Business is going well, I assume?”

Ras replied half as a greeting and half as a subtle jab at the time the owner had tried to overcharge him.

But the owner seemed completely unbothered and simply laughed heartily in response.

“How did you know? Computers are selling incredibly well lately. Apparently games are all the rage now. So many people are coming in just because they want to play them. Hahaha.”

“Games?”

Ras disliked how the man seemed to have completely forgotten the earlier incident, but the more interesting word immediately caught his attention instead.

“Yes. These have become hugely popular recently. Especially this one.”

Thinking he had found a chance to make a sale, the owner immediately led Ras toward the game section and eagerly pulled out one particular package.

As expected, it was Land of Adventure.

Ras found the situation strangely amusing and fascinating.

Back on Earth, he too had once begged for a computer because he wanted to play games. And somewhere, perhaps online or in a book, he vaguely remembered hearing that games had played a major role in the spread and advancement of computers.

But he had never imagined he would personally witness people buying computers because of a game he himself had created.

Still, he said nothing.

If he revealed himself as the developer, he would probably get surprised reactions and enjoy the feeling for a brief moment, but afterward it would likely become troublesome.

So he merely nodded and instead asked where the game consoles were.

“Ah, those are selling well too these days. Since they’re dedicated gaming machines, they’re better for gaming.”

Opening a box, the owner showed him a game console called Talados.

The lower half was a rectangular metallic body, while the upper half featured curved semicircular plastic colored in a mix of white and pale pink.

The overall size was about half that of a computer.

The wired controller had a directional pad with four buttons and two additional input buttons.

Instead of diskettes, it used solid plastic cartridges that inserted deeply into the front ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the machine.

Ras initially intended to examine the specifications, but since this was the only game console available anyway, there was nothing to compare it against, so he immediately asked the price instead.

“Two thousand Del.”

At first, hearing it cost less than half the price of a computer made it sound cheap.

But after thinking about it again, it really was not cheap at all.

It was equal to Pana’s monthly salary.

So Ras briefly wondered whether it was really worth spending that much money when he did not even intend to truly enjoy gaming on it and only wanted to examine how it differed from computers.

But then he reminded himself that he was now more than wealthy enough.

There was nowhere he could realistically borrow a console from whenever he wanted, and he knew perfectly well he would end up wanting to inspect every new game released for the system anyway.

Rather than constantly wasting time figuring out how to access one, investing two thousand Del now seemed like the smarter choice.

Ras ended up purchasing the console along with a pile of game cartridges before leaving the store.

After returning home, he connected the game console to his television according to the instruction manual.

It was not particularly difficult.

He simply unplugged the television broadcast cable and connected the game console input cable instead.

The only annoying part was that whenever he wanted to watch television again, he would have to move the heavy CRT television and reverse the entire process.

Ras decided to start with a baseball game.

Talados seemed to have many sports games.

The gameplay itself was extremely simple.

As the pitcher, timing a button press while the cursor moved left and right determined the throw, while the batter merely pressed the button at the correct timing to hit the ball.

There were minor variations, so the ball did not always travel perfectly straight, and depending on timing the direction of the hit ball changed, but overall it still felt rather dull.

The graphics themselves were not especially impressive either.

The color usage techniques and overall design quality felt mediocre.

Still, the screen was packed full of vivid primary colors without relying on black backgrounds, which suggested the graphical output capability itself was definitely superior.

So it really does have a separate GPU after all?

The manual did list technical specifications, but since the terminology and product names belonged to this world’s language, it was difficult to understand clearly.

Still, because Ras already knew how consoles worked on Earth, he could roughly infer things.

And after trying the games one by one, he found some titles with overwhelmingly superior visual performance.

One of them was a side-scrolling shooting game.

The shooting genre was clearly popular, and perhaps because large amounts of funding had been poured into it, the graphics and design were genuinely impressive.

Gameplay-wise, there was nothing particularly special besides the direction shifting from vertical to horizontal scrolling.

But the stylish fighter planes, missiles drawn as glowing oval shapes with effects rather than mere dots, and beautifully animated explosion effects made the game enjoyable through graphical distinction alone.

Even Ras, someone from Earth, had already become accustomed to this world’s graphical standards, so before he realized it, he had spent a long time gripping the controller and staring intently at the CRT screen.

“Graphics really do matter.”

The game itself was not difficult, but as the playtime dragged on, Ras’s concentration gradually weakened, and when he finally died, he simply let go of the controller.

The repetitive patterns had started becoming tedious anyway.

And the thought that remained in his mind was envy toward the game console’s graphics.

One might ask why he did not simply develop games for consoles instead.

But he had no desire to do that.

After arriving in this world, he had focused intensely on learning programming in order to survive. He had no interest in starting all over again to learn console-specific coding.

And above all, he disliked the idea of being restricted.

Even if console manufacturers in this world did not abuse third-party developers the way they sometimes did on Earth, they would still collect royalties, and overall the environment clearly would not be as free as PC game development.

Ras began thinking about whether there might be some way to achieve better graphics on computers instead.

Of course, if computer performance simply improved, the problem would solve itself naturally.

But that was not something Ras personally could control.

He did not possess specialized knowledge in semiconductors or circuitry, and this world already had talented scientists and engineers researching those fields intensely.

Certainly, injecting massive funding could accelerate development.

But Ras’s wealth was nowhere near enough for that scale.

The computer industry in this world was already enormous, so his few billion won would amount to little more than adding a few extra buckets of water into a river.

So he considered another direction.

What if computers simply added dedicated graphical processing hardware like game consoles did?

After all, Talados already existed as proof such technology was possible, so developing something similar likely would not require impossibly massive investment.

It honestly did not seem like an irrational idea.

After all, Earth’s technology had eventually evolved toward graphics cards as well.

However, after researching related books at libraries and bookstores, Ras discovered several major problems.

Current computers in this world were not assembled from modular components connected through expandable motherboards the way he knew them.

More accurately, motherboards existed, but they had almost no expandability, making it impossible to simply add something like a graphics card.

Of course, redesigning the entire architecture from scratch was technically possible.

But people who already owned computers would likely never spend another five thousand Del just to buy a redesigned 8-bit machine solely for a graphics upgrade.

Ras felt disappointed, but he still intended to continue pursuing graphics card development anyway.

If he could somehow cooperate with a computer manufacturer, then even if it was impossible immediately, they might at least target the future transition period when 16-bit computers eventually arrived and consumers upgraded their machines.

But where am I supposed to find someone capable of developing a graphics card?

Building one himself was out of the question.

After reading several technical books, Ras realized that even if he devoted himself fully to studying, it would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠still take several years just to build the foundational knowledge necessary to attempt something.

And he already barely had enough time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to devote to game development, a field where he was already relatively successful.

Spending years studying a completely different discipline would be absurd.

More importantly, even if he studied it, there was no guarantee he could actually develop a good graphics card afterward.

The far more rational approach would be to find talented people in that field and either hire or invest in them instead.

And after thinking further, the best candidates were obviously people already involved in the current computing industry.

However, Ras lacked the resources to scout employed professionals away from stable jobs.

So he concluded he would probably need to search among university students in related fields instead.

Ras immediately began drafting a detailed document explaining the graphics card concept.

Though he did not deeply understand hardware itself, repeated struggles with resource limitations during programming had forced him to accumulate basic technical knowledge for optimization purposes.

Combined with his perspective as a programmer, he could at least explain the general concepts without major issues.

And maybe the title should be something like “Recruiting Developers for Computer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Graphics Enhancement Hardware.”

In any case, this was not the kind of concept worth hoarding jealously.

After all, game consoles had already implemented similar technology, so it was hardly some revolutionary secret idea.

And since Ras himself could not develop it alone anyway, he figured it would be better to reveal the concept openly, gather talented people interested in it as quickly as possible, create an actual product, and hopefully accelerate the advancement of both gaming and computers, even if only slightly.

Lastly, Ras added his own name and information beneath the title.

As a game developer, he had already become fairly famous by now, and since games were one of the few industries connected to computers, he hoped that reputation might attract talented individuals.

Of course, they might just ignore me instead. But at least they’ll know I have money now, so that alone should make me seem more trustworthy.

The next problem was how to reach universities beyond nearby Tuba University.

He could personally post notices there, of course.

But unless he happened to find the perfect talent at Tuba, he would need access to the largest talent pool possible.

For a brief moment, Ras considered using this as an excuse to travel around.

But once he imagined himself visiting universities one by one and wandering around each unfamiliar city afterward, the idea lost its appeal immediately.

Besides, right now he would rather spend his time making more games than traveling.

Though to be fair, that did not necessarily mean he wanted to keep programming personally.

Come to think of it, now that he finally had money, hiring someone else to handle coding work might not be a bad idea either.

Returning to the university issue, Ras quickly came up with a solution.

Letters.

Recruiting developers was hardly something secretive, and fundamentally this was simply another form of employment recruitment.

Surely asking schools to post notices on their bulletin boards would not be considered an unreasonable request.